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Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity of Nano-Flake Carbon-Deposited Pt75Ni25(111) Surfaces

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Abstract

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity was investigated for nano-flake-like carbon-modified Pt75Ni25(111) surfaces. Surface cleaning through Ar+-sputtering and thermal annealing in an ultra-high vacuum (~ 10−8 Pa) resulted in a Pt-enriched topmost surface, i.e., a Pt(111)-skin on Pt75Ni25(111). Arc plasma deposition (APD) of graphite under 0.08 Pa N2 and in vacuum (~ 10−6 Pa) generated nitrogen-doped and non-doped nano-flake-like carbon on the Pt(111)-skin surfaces, respectively. For the latter, non-doped carbon-modified Pt(111)-skin, the area-specific initial ORR activity estimated in O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4 decreased with increasing thickness of the deposited carbon. In contrast, the former, nitrogen-doped carbon with 2 and 6 Å mass-thickness enhanced the ORR activity. The Pt 4f band energies for the nitrogen-doped Pt(111)-skin were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and showed the chemical shift to higher biding energy (~ 0.2 eV) compared with the corresponding bands for the non-doped and Pt(111)-skin surfaces. As for the electrochemical structural stability, a specific amount of the non-doped carbon species tends to suppress the degradation of the Pt(111)-skin under applying potential cycles. The results indicate that the surface modifications by the carbon hexagonal networks of the nano-flakes could be applicable to improve ORR performance of the practical Pt-M alloy catalysts.

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This study was supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.

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  1. Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan

    Naoto Todoroki, Ren Sasakawa, Keisuke Kusunoki & Toshimasa Wadayama

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  1. Naoto Todoroki
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Todoroki, N., Sasakawa, R., Kusunoki, K. et al. Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity of Nano-Flake Carbon-Deposited Pt75Ni25(111) Surfaces. Electrocatalysis 10, 232–242 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-019-00517-6

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